How to Claim Back Statutory Sick Pay Paid to Employees Due to the Coronavirus
If you’re an employer, you may be able to recover the costs of paying coronavirus-related Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), through the Coronavirus Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme (CSSPRS), from 26 May 2020.
You are eligible if you have a PAYE payroll scheme that was created and started before 28 February 2020 and you had fewer than 250 employees on the same date.
The repayment will cover up to 2 weeks of SSP and is payable if an employee is unable to work because they:
- have coronavirus symptoms; or
- cannot work because they are self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms; or
- are shielding and have a letter from the NHS or a GP telling them to stay at home for at least 12 weeks
You will be able to claim for periods of sickness starting on or after:
- 13 March 2020 – if your employee had coronavirus or the symptoms or is self-isolating because someone they live with has symptoms
- 16 April 2020 – if your employee was shielding because of coronavirus
If you pay your employees more than the weekly rate of SSP you can only reclaim the SSP rate. The SSP rate was increased from £94.25 to £95.85 on 6 April 2020.
Your employees do not need to provide you with a doctor’s fit note for you to make a claim under the scheme.
To use the online service you will need:
- your Government Gateway User ID and password
- your employer PAYE scheme reference number
- your bank details
- the total amount of coronavirus SSP you have paid to your employees
- the number of employees you are claiming for
- the start date and end date of the claim period
You will be able to claim for multiple pay periods and employees at the same time.
You can claim back from both the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and the CSSPRS for the same employee but not for the same time period.
You will need to keep a record of the following for 3 years after the date you recieve a payment for your claim:
- the dates your employee was off sick
- which of those dates were qualifying days
- the reason they said they were off work – if they had symptoms, someone they lived with had symptoms or they were shielding
- the employee’s National Insurance number
Please note: This article is a commentary on general principles and should not be interpreted as advice for your specific situation.
